


Teeth Bared and Eyes Wild

by demiksmith



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Friendship, Minor Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov, and their odd relationship, barely mentioned, but this is really about Nick and Nat, minor references to other characters, relationship analysis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-05
Updated: 2015-06-05
Packaged: 2018-04-02 23:27:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4077859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/demiksmith/pseuds/demiksmith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maybe it was because he could see himself in those eyes that he let her live. Maybe it was because he knew what it felt like to want to die, but to be too stubborn to give in.</p>
<p>Regardless, Nick Fury welcomed Natalia Romanova into SHIELD. It was one of his better decisions.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Teeth Bared and Eyes Wild

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by: http://demiksmith.tumblr.com/post/120749845015
> 
> These two have such an interesting relationship. There are a lot of nuances and depth to them, and I really wish they had more screen time together, more of a chance to flesh the relationship out.

She was brittle, all sharp edges, when Barton brought her in. Oh, she hid it well, kept it concealed with the professionalism of a Red Room graduate, but Nick knew where to look. She was exhausted, scraped thin, living with her teeth bared and her eyes hard.

Maybe it was because he could see himself in those eyes that he let her live. Maybe it was because he knew what it felt like to want to die, but to be too stubborn to give in.

Regardless, Nick Fury welcomed Natalia Romanova into SHIELD. It was one of his better decisions.

 

She had thought him pretentious, cocky, arrogant, initially. She wasn’t wrong, not really. He put on airs, had a front, and while it hadn’t taken long for her to dismantle it, she could admire the complexity of the layers.

It took a long time for her to admit it, but Natalia liked Nick. Trusted Nick.

That left her sleepless for many long nights.

 

Years down the road, once they had come to an easy, respected friendship, Nick Fury sent Natalia Romanova (Natalie Rushman) (Natasha Romanoff) ( _Black Widow_ ) to begin the Avengers. She had went without complaint, first to Tony Stark, then later, after Barton was compromised, (and oh, how she had become brittle again, teeth bared and eyes wild, when her partner _friend_ lover was taken), to Bruce Banner.

She had sat with Nick after, in the quiet moment _after_ , when Clint was safe, New York was safe, when Thor and his brat of a brother were gone, had held his hand in hers. She didn’t say anything, had in fact turned away when a tear ran down his cheek, giving him the quiet solitude he needed as he mourned his best friend Phil.

They weren’t quite friends, but really, how could anyone in their line of work, with their histories, their _lives_ , have friends? They weren’t partners, weren’t anything more than colleagues, really, but they _were_. Nick would trust Natalia with his life, that was a given, but more importantly, he would trust her with the lives of the _world_.

He liked to think she knew.

 

Nick Fury died, and a part of Natalia Romanova went with him. There was disbelief, some suspicion, that this was _Nick motherfucking Fury_ , that bullets couldn’t be enough to bring him down. But Natalia had been shot by the same assassin, had looked into those eyes, and knew.

Her friend had been killed by her one-time lover.

And it was fitting, wasn’t it, that her past came to kill her present, her future? The man she loved once upon a time, the ghost of the Soviets, coming back just in time to throw her life into an upheaval?

There was work to be done, and so Natalia Romanova became Natasha Romanoff, became Steve Rogers’ partner and friend, and buried her sorrow.

Later, when Natasha Romanoff sees Nick Fury, she slips back to Natalia Romanova with tired grace, too relieved that her friend survived to be truly upset.

There will be a conversation, at some point. Nick knows this, and hopes Natalia will wait until he’s healed to give him a new injury.

Natalia isn’t sure she has _that_ much grace.

 

Natalia Romanova slips back to Natasha Romanoff, and to the floor, her Widow’s Bites buying the time needed to save her life. But she is still, unmoving, and Nick is afraid.

He calls for her, and is unwilling to acknowledge the way his chest eases when she stirs, unwilling to acknowledge the way his fingers tremble as he helps her up.

They weren’t friends, they weren’t partners, but Nick Fury was starting to think Natalia Romanova was _family_.

 

And that conversation happens, and Natalia Romanova leaves Nick Fury with a sprained wrist. But she laughs and pats his cheek as she leaves, and he knows she could have broken the wrist. He would have let her, he deserved it.

But family means they don’t hurt each other (too badly, at least). And if there isn’t _quite_ a name for their relationship, it doesn’t matter.

Nick Fury trusts Natalia Romanova, and she trusts him.

Trust is a rare thing for people like them, people with broken pasts and fucked up lives, but it works, makes the days a bit better. They have each other’s backs, and that makes the nights go by just a little easier.


End file.
